Judge weighs whether Baker's suit vs. School Board will go forward

Former Collier County School District Superintendent Ray Baker's attorney Jeffrey Fridkin listens to the Collier County School District's case during a summary judgment hearing at the Collier County Courthouse on Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 in Naples, Fla. After failing to reach a settlement in his lawsuit against the district outside of court, Baker's attorney filed for a summery judgment to attempt to reach a decision on the case without going to a full trial.

Daily News

The fate of Ray Baker's lawsuit against the Collier County School Board is now in a judge's hands.

Lee Circuit Judge John Carlin took the matter under advisement after hearing arguments for about an hour Friday.

Baker's lawsuit alleges School Board Chairwoman Linda Abbott and board members Steve Donovan and Richard Calabrese conspired against him by violating the Florida Government in the Sunshine Law by communicating in secret and with each other to declare his contract void before the board fired him at a July 31, 2007, meeting.

It will be up to Carlin to decide whether the district breached Baker's contract when the board voted to fire him July 31. He won't make a decision on whether board members violated the Sunshine Law.

Baker's attorney, Jeffrey Fridkin, said the district had no right to breach Baker's contract. Fridkin said Baker's contract gave five reasons why Baker could be fired for cause.

Those reasons are: If Baker tenders a written resignation; if Baker failed, neglected or refused to come to work although he is in good health; if he is convicted of a felony crime; if he is medically incapable of performing his duties; or if he fails to improve his performance after notice of deficiencies in his work.

Fridkin said the district could fire Baker without cause, if they give him 14 days' notice and pay him what remained on his contract, including sick leave and vacation leave, from the date of termination until June 30, 2011.

The district, represented by Miami attorney Carlos Mustelier, argued that Baker breached his own contract by failing to perform his duties under Florida law.

"The job is created by the Legislature and in order for him to take the job, he had to abide and accept those statutes," Calabrese said following the hearing. "By arguing that he didn't have to follow those guidelines, he is saying he can break the law."

Baker's contract was declared void a week after a report found that the district failed to uniformly award credits to students taking courses paired with Advanced Placement classes.

The report followed a four-month investigation into how credits were given at Collier County high schools. The report looked at high school courses districtwide, addressing course credit issues and questions raised by students and their parents.

The report indicated that some students received different credits for taking the same course and the district added the term "honors" to course titles, although the Florida Department of Education didn't authorize a course title with that designation.

Mustelier said once Baker failed to perform his duties, he couldn't use the provisions of his contract to keep his job.

Fridkin argued that the contract was a binding obligation between the district and Baker, and that School Board Attorney Richard Withers even advised the board July 31 that by voiding the contract, they were doing it at their own peril.

"There always was a way to terminate Mr. Baker," he said. "They could have given him 14 days' notice and then paid him his severance package. They have to behave like grown-ups."

Fridkin also argued that the board's policy on those classes had been in place for a decade, which was longer than Baker was in his position.

Following the hearing, Abbott said that it didn't matter how long the policy had been in place. She said once Baker found out something was wrong, he should have corrected it.

"It's not about how long it's gone on. It's that once he recognized it was going on, he refused to take action," she said. "He told us it was always done this way. But the fact is, there were certain classes that were available only to certain students and never offered or made public to everyone."

The judge didn't give the attorneys a timeline for when he would make his decision, telling them that he would send them a written judgment.

If Carlin rules in favor of Baker, the district will be responsible for paying him what he is owed in his contract. If the judge rules against Baker, the case will move on toward trial.